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The Ledgers of Baldr: 4E354-4E359
Actions Hall of the Five Gojac smiles to himself. "My plan is all falling into place." Rucahn shoots him a quizzical look. "Two words, my dear boy. Weaponized gonorrhea." (1) The other three set on raising Shrine Titan armies. This batch is equipped with special pushing implements to roll spherical dragonmen down hills. (2-4) Ashelani The rivalry between Queen Torol and Queen Scholus runs deep, with each heir constantly scheming to overtake the other. Neither is willing to cede the throne, as it means their certain death. There may only be one Queen of the Ashelani. Queen Torol entreats the Brightprince for a sign that she is deserving of the throne, in exchange for bringing his true name into the realm of international politics. She hopes that a manifestation of his power will allow her and her daughters to get an edge over Queen Scholus. (Hunger Magic x1) She also begins gathering her drones together around a protoqueen to see if they can unite their minds to acquire members from Scholus's hive. (subjugation tech x1) Queen Scholus is enthusiastic about what she hopes will be a long reign as queen. There is much to do in the Riftlands, and wyrdium could provide the edge needed to kill both Queen Torol and the Brightprince. As tradition demands, the first task her scientists are given to test the wyrdium is to eat it. (wyrdium tech x2) Legaros On the day Death came back, almost the entire Legaran government died, and turned to dust. Shrieks of rage and surprise were heard coming from the Emperors mansion, but the messages, gestures, and executions continue unabated. It would appear that Basoferyx has survived, although he still refuses all personal contact, and his state of mind remains unclear at best. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Captain of the Haven Policing Corps, a dwarf named Grantis, has banned the once-popular game of splatball, as now competitors no longer have the capability to de-splat themselves. Instead, he imports old and rusted Derultians, and opens the Metallic Fighting League, where anyone can test their fighting prowess against a machine. For a price, of course. (Culture 1 and Income 2) The ships of the Legaran First Fleet, overgrown after nearly 200 years of the curse, have been trimmed back, and reshaped into sleeker, faster vessels. The excess wood is sold to the poor folk at the docks, and at a grossly overinflated rate, of course. (Naval Research 3, Income 4) Stavengar Consul Baldr continues to push for some form of monument and park system to be built in memory of the war, and decides that if Shattered Pinnacle Park cannot include graves, it can at the very least include many monuments. (Culturex1). Consul Ludendwarf is far more invested in the defense of the nation, and lobbies for the raising of an army (Armyx1). Ludendwarf and Baldr also decide that their border should rest on the Fissure, and plan to found a new colony that can control around the Fissure(Expansionx1). Finally, dwarf scientists tasked with studying wyrdium realize its ability to store energy, and begin to experiment with the creation of wyrdium matrices which can discharge this energy on command(Military Researchx1). Kaz'ur With the return of death, and therefore the hunger, stringent prayer and meditation begins to be observed with greater fervor, in an attempt to shut down its influence once and for all. (Hunger, 1-2). Once the exterior of the walls have been cleared of corpses, the Council decides to construct a city on the eastern side of the walls, to house the surviving refugees and give them a place to do business. (culture, 3). And lastly, another expansion is launched to the south, trying to seize more territory before the hunger can lay waste to it. (expansion, 4). Mu'lakka Settling into his new position as Supreme Chancellor, Kal'rog has a few reforms to make. First, he abolishes the production and sale of Mu'lakkan Victory Wine in his historic Intoxication Emancipation Proclamation. He has heard of a drink that can be made from the corn that can finally grow again and, as a quicker and cheaper alternative to grapes, he commissions the mass production of Mu'lakkan Milled Beer. (Income 1) He is also glad to finally recommence construction in Mu'lakkan shipyards, and shipmen get to work at once shaving down the excess growths on all ships and making tweaks while at it. (Navy 2) With the increased demand for corn and a marked lack of increase in space, settlers are sent out on ships to find new shores on which corn or some other enterprise would be suitable. (Expansion 3) Finally, people back on the mainland are capable of killing and skinning livestock without the skin continuing to grow, so research resumes on ways to carry larger loads. Several daring men attempt to tie a small skiff loaded with people-sized bags of rocks to one of the balloons in an attempt to see whether flight would be feasible with such a large load. (Flight 4) Ignati Still reeling from the death of most of the upper echelon of the Ignati government, the various tribes all send representatives to form an interim council. With youth now representing a much larger proportion of Ignati society, the council has a strong contingent of young, idealistic dragon-men, who grew up completely under the rule of Chimeryx. Their influence is felt in the council's decision to launch an eastwards expansion (x2). Furthermore, they revive an old ambition and push through funding for leather wing-extenders. These light pieces of material increase wing surface area, and allow for increased flying range (military tech x2). Results: The Halls of the Five: 6, 18, 11, 7 “I should have stopped him as soon as he said ‘weaponized gonorrhea,’” Kellus says to Garma over a cup of tea. “Seriously. The phrase ‘weaponized gonorrhea’ shouldn’t even have been brought to the drafting table.” Garma raises her eyebrow. “Then why didn’t you stop him?” “I dunno,” Kellus says, “I was really tired that meeting. The long and short of it is that we’ve only managed to introduce gonorrhea into the tiny human population that lives here. As for my army, well…” Garma narrows her eyes. “I didn’t really have time for it.” Garma slams her teacup down dramatically, which really only amounts to a soft porcelain clink. “Dammit to hell!” she screams. “We’re about to be invaded!” “Rucahn hasn’t done any work either,” Kellus whines, “I can guarantee you he’s off doing some stupid thing or another.” Garma is fuming on the opposite end of the table. It turns out that she’s been the only one creating shrine titans these past few days (-10 income). The beasts sit there outside in her yard, easily visible from the terraced window, where they are pulling up fence posts and trees and making a nuisance of themselves. Garma hates the damn things. The Ashelani Dominion: 13, 8, 5, 5 The Brightprince has very little interest, it seems, in politics. Len-Torol has had an immense amount of trouble even explaining the meaning of the word to him, seeing as the demon does not recognize normal beings as life forms, and does not understand the concept of nationality. Certain Ashelani, however, may act as hosts for the Hunger. These creatures live in unbearable agony as the fungus eats their innards from the inside, but on the outside they appear uncorrupted and can last for years. Len-Torol realizes that this may be the first step in manipulating the Hunger physically (2 more successes). The subjugation experiment fails, as Len-Torol’s crafty younger sister has reformatted the psychic wavelength of her entire brood, effectively turning them into a new sub-species that is unable to interact with the rest of the Ashelani. Meanwhile, in the southwest, where the jungle gives way to the sloping plains that roll towards the fissure, Len-Scholus has been hard at work studying the strange metal, with little to no luck. Ashelani who eat wyrdium suffer no maladies or ill effects and soon pass the substance out of their system in smaller spheres. Experiments on captive slaves yield the same results, however, most of the slaves are still held up north under Len-Torol’s control, and there are not adequate numbers for experiments as they are dying off quite rapidly due to hunger and disease. The initial 70% death rate for the initial slaves after the Age of Immortality ended has been bumped up to 85% over the past three years, and Len-Torol feels that expeditions northward must be launched soon to acquire more breeding stock. Legaros: 1, 2, 9, 1 With the Derultians came the rust. The stuff grows on everything, not just metal, but wood, stone, and cloth as well. Cobblestones in the streets of Haven have rust growing in the creases between the mortar work, and your finest statues have been defaced. The Derultians are unsurprised. That’s just how the rust has always been—there’s no use whining about it. If a sword is left in its scabbard for a full day, it will be completely rusted inside after 24 hours, give or take, although the rate seems to vary depending on how many Derultians are around. Not surprisingly, Derultians join the Ashelani as one of Legaros’s most hated races, although the robots don’t seem to care how they are treated as long as their coolant keeps getting imported. Not a single one of them could ever be described as amicable, and most attempts to interact with them are rebuffed by a dull “screw you.” Your leaders are less than pleased that most of the city’s architecture has been wiped out (-1 culture). After a few months the Metallic Fighting League has been shut down—sixty percent of all fights end with a fatality in the first round. To this day, no non-Derultian has ever made it past two rounds in the ring without either conceding or dying. The trimming of the fleet is completed, but the boats are all rusted, as are the sails and even the waterlogged ropes, which now cut the hands of the sailors who haul them, and the navy doesn’t exactly fight at increased effectiveness. As for the wood, most of it is rusted as well, and Legarans are instead importing their wood from Ignis, causing the government to lose money (-4 income). Stavengar: 16, 19, 9, 8 Consul Baldr, descendant of the ill-fated monarch Baldr Stinheim, visits a monument to his forefathers of the Stinheim clan in the newly completed Pinnacle Park. He bows his head to statues of Baldr, Azaghal, Claudia, Guillaume, and Vicengrin, but he does not visit Borgrek’s statue. A statement released by the consulate says that while Baldr acknowledges Borgrek as a brilliant tactician and a courageous leader, he stands by the blood oath that Azaghal Stinheim made during the Mu’lakkan peace talks, and cannot honor Borgrek as he honors the other war heroes because of his slaying of King Baldr, his direct blood relative. The public understands this sentiment, and thousands flock to the park to pay their respects to the dead on both sides (+2 culture). With the Age of Immortality now a fading memory, and much of Stavengar’s population ravaged, the Senate is much more attentive to Ludendwarf’s argument, and an army is soon raised for the good of the people (-10 income). The expansion plans to reach the fissure fall through, as many of the towns on your northeast border have been completely wiped out by starvation, and there is no population base for your explorers to muster. Incentives are handed out to dwarfs who choose to move out east and repopulate the ghost towns, such as free land or finger-length braids of gold. Wyrdium research has been moved inland, and your scientists hypothesize that they could get the energy matrices to operate effectively if only they could get the metal to retain its shape when forged. Kaz’ur: 10, 19, 18, 20 Hunger growth within your nation has completely stopped, however, elsewhere reports are coming in of the fungus spreading like wildfire all over the continent. This is a surge of growth that is honestly quite frightening for your people, but your leaders urge them that their faith must not be shaken, or the Hunger will consume them all. Long-dormant caches of Hunger, dropped by the Reich over 150 years ago, have sprung to life and are virulently growing as fast as possible. Your people remain unable to control hunger growth outside the borders of your country, and it is fairly clear that doing so would be impossible. The new city, Duyyad, lies outside your eastern walls, bordering the wastes and the jungle. While not as well-planned as the cities in your interior, for the first time in years, many of the refugees have found a home. Duyyad is the most diverse city on Ardunne, and contains the largest concentration of Rhiam-speaking people since the country was entirely swallowed up by the Hunger a few years ago (+2 culture). Your expansion south is launched in the nick of time, and your explorers have halted Hunger growth from ravaging the lands north of Stavengar, your new neighbor. Most of the dwarfs are less than thrilled to see your kind on their northern border, but your settlement nets you at lot of trade regardless (-10 wealth, +8 income). The Mu’lakka Lands: 6, 17, 1, 20 Mu’lakkan milled beer is a commercial failure, and Kal’rog hears reports that Mu’lakkan Victory Wine is still widely used in the eastern colonies, where Derultians, now afforded citizenship rights in Mu’lakka, use a less-concentrated version of the substance to corrode rust off their bodies. The rust has been a plague upon your eastern colonies ever since death has returned to the world—the stuff now grows on seemingly every inorganic thing. Your ships are also affected, unfortunately, but Mu’lakkan sailors have adapted quickly to the change. Re-cutting and restructuring of the ships makes them a lot more sleek than they were in the past, and the gilded hull mechanisms now reside in the ships’ interior, covered by a layer of soft and aerodynamic wood, cut in curving wedges to reduce wind resistance (+5 to naval rolls). The proposed expansion is never launched—your government is disrupted by news of a revolt on Big Island (-10 wealth). The indigenous population, who still retains control of about half the landmass, has had enough of your tribe and seeks to return to the old ways. Your cities on the island are razed by their invading warriors, and your militias are powerless to stop their advance. Big Island, the jewel in the Mu’lakkan crown, has been lost (-6 income). Your scientists, however, return with astounding news—the first balloon has been tested, and controlled flight is indeed possible (Your navies may engage armies on land as if they were armies). The Ignati Tribes: 19, 2, 9, 20 The expansion eastward is met with great profitability and success, and your dominion now encompasses all of southern Liosa. The eastern lands are the first region of your landholdings that is largely outside the confines of the Great Forest. Off to the north, across the flat plains, a grey ash waste can be seen, reportedly territorial holdings of the Mu’lakkans. Out here, members of your species are trying to farm for the first time, saving you money on imported vegetables (-20 wealth, +6 income). The wing extenders now increase the wingspan of a typical brave by fifteen feet, although they are cumbersome and bulky, making them hard to carry. Your strike forces hike up large mountains with them, hoping to get vantage points from which to strike out against the Five (+3 military). The majority of your forces are drastically afraid of the old Liosan gods, and lack the confidence they once had going into the last war. Category:The Ledgers of Baldr